On the occasion of Venice Climate Week, from June 5 to 28, 2026, the Yacht Club Venezia hosts ARTIVISM AWARDS IV - Ocean Preservation Awareness: A Discovery Expedition, an exhibition project conceived and curated by Diana von Hohenthal und Bergen. The project connects contemporary art, scientific research, and environmental activism in a reflection dedicated to the protection of marine ecosystems and the future of the oceans. The winner of the fourth edition of the Artivism Award will be awarded on June 6 with the Artivism Lion, a prize created by Murano Master Glassmaker Massimiliano Schiavon. Their work will be exhibited at Art Miami Fairs - Aqua Art in December 2026, thanks to gallerist and jury founder Peter Hopkins.
More than just an exhibition, Ocean Preservation Awareness presents itself as a true research and observation expedition, a journey born from direct experience of the sea and developed through three curatorial chapters — scientific, militant, and contemplative — united by a single horizon: the ocean as a physical, political, cultural, and symbolic space.
The project begins with a ten-day crossing aboard the Kyalami, an 80-meter sailing yacht designed by Germán Frers, which sets sail from Malta's Grand Harbour to reach Venice across the Mediterranean. The journey, organized in collaboration with Kurt Arrigo, ambassador of the One Ocean Foundation, along with researchers from the University of Malta, patron Frits Cornelis Thieme, and the Can 7 residency program, involves artists, scholars, and conservationists in an immersive experience that transforms the observation of the sea into artistic practice and a tool for awareness. "The crossing is not a metaphor. It is the first gesture of the artwork," states curator Diana von Hohenthal und Bergen. During the voyage, which also featured artists Alexandra Mas and Sarah Olson, the Mediterranean is observed as a living organism and a fragile territory, through environmental transformations, climate tensions, and geopolitical issues. Photography, film, performance, and installations become instruments of investigation and collective responsibility.
The exhibition brings together international artists who address the urgencies of the present through different yet complementary practices. Among the key figures of the project, Kurt Arrigo presents The Blue Thread, a photographic series developed for the One Ocean Foundation that conveys, through underwater imagery, the complexity and vulnerability of marine ecosystems. The works will be available in a limited edition, and the proceeds will support programs dedicated to the restoration of seagrass meadows.
Joanna Adams exhibits The Future is Wild, a video project accompanied by a series of drawings created in collaboration with scholars from international institutions such as Stanford University, University of Leeds, and the Natural History Museum of London. Through a narrative that intertwines imagination and research, the project reflects on the potential evolutions of the planet and the environmental transformations that redefine the relationship between humans and nature.
Dodi Reifenberg, winner of the third edition of the Artivism Awards, transforms plastic recovered from the oceans into layered artistic surfaces that make the material permanence of contemporary pollution visible, while Lilo M. R. Hansen addresses underwater labor conditions during offshore oil expansion in the North Sea.
Photographer Vera van Leeuwen, with Calypso 2026 AD, builds a visual investigation inspired by the historical and mythological landscapes of Malta and Gozo. Currently pursuing a master's degree in ancient history, the artist carries forward an artistic practice that combines historical research and contemporary language. This dimension of study and deep analysis runs through the entire project and also emerges in the iconographic references.
Marcy Axelrod presents Ocean Creatures, a three-part sculptural installation that evokes marine organisms suspended between light, transparency, and movement. Through fluid forms in layered acrylic, the work reflects on the increasingly visible fragility of contemporary ocean ecosystems.
Lavenair returns to the sea as an origin. Their photographs of the Mediterranean — ranging from ultramarine blues and turquoises to storms that blend sky and water — restore an intimate and measured perception of the landscape. No digital intervention alters the images: the chromatic gradients are real.
Alongside works of a documentary and political nature, the project opens up space for more immersive and contemplative practices. Alexandra Mas presents Mystic Waters, a project that reflects on the visual and material overabundance generated by the contemporary environmental crisis. At the center of the work are primarily long ink drawings of 130 cm, which constitute the core of her work and the basis from which video and performative components also develop. The video therefore represents part of a broader research, built through visual layers, immersion, and the accumulation of marks.
Sarah Olson develops Rise All Boats, a performative project born from the direct relationship between body, matter, and marine landscape.
During the opening, the program includes the performance The Tragic Grasp for Air of Nymphaea by Julie Gintowt, while Shoki Okumura presents Empathy Towards Things - Impermanence as a Living Ocean, a performance inspired by the Japanese concept of mono no aware, dedicated to fragility and the transitory nature of existence.
During the crossing aboard the Kyalami, Ocean Preservation Awareness is born in dialogue with One Ocean Foundation and the Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit of Heritage Malta, organizations committed to the research and conservation of marine heritage. The objective is to promote new forms of collaboration between art, science, and environmental protection, building a platform for multidisciplinary debate capable of transforming knowledge into action: "we look at the ocean and we see beauty. We look closer and we see what we have done to it."
With ARTIVISM AWARDS IV, observation transforms into a shared experience and awareness into collective responsibility, opening up a reflection on the relationship between human beings, the environment, and the future of the planet.